Card retainer

ABSTRACT

An envelope-type enclosure for receiving a panellike card having indicia on at least one side thereof. The enclosure includes structure adapting it to be hung on a suitable support, a window in one side thereof with which the indicia of the card may be registered and coin retaining pockets for retaining a plurality of different value coins to be paid out in tolls.

United States Patent 2.390.748 12/1945 Swanson 206/.83X 2.412.405 12/1946 Kahn 40/164 2.574.802 11/1951 Tobias 40/164 2.826.334 3/1958 Musler 206/19.5A 3.316.924 5/1967 Ware 206/Susp.

Primary ExaminerRobert W. Michell Assistant ExaminerWenceslao .l. Contreras Attorneys-Clarence A. O'Brien and Harvey B. Jacobson ABSTRACT: An envelope-type enclosure for receiving a panellike card having indicia on at least one side thereof. The enclosure includes structure adapting it to be hung on a suitable support, a window in one side thereof with which the indicia of the card may be registered and coin retaining pockets for retaining a plurality of different value coins to be paid out in tolls.

PATENTEDHAY25|97I 3,579,878

sum 1 [1F 2 Anthony L. Griffin Earl G. Chefwynd INVI'IN'IORS Mm WWW CARD RETAINER The card retainer of the instant invention has been designed to provide convenience for motorists who often or even seldomly use toll roads while operating their vehicles. The card holder or retainer is in the form of an envelope-type enclosure into which a toll card for a toll road may be inserted. It is to be noted that the card retainer may have some of its structural features revised in accordance with the various types of toll cards which may be used in conjunction therewith. The most probable revision of the card retainer so as to adapt it to be utilized in conjunction with a particular toll card would be changing the plan size and shape of the enclosure and the size, shape and location of the window in the front wall of the enclosure with which the various printed destinations on the associated toll card are to be registered.

The enclosure includes a magnifying identification bar which may be moved along the window so as to be properly registered with and magnify a selected printed destination or interchange noted on the face of the toll card.

The enclosure includes a plurality of receptacles into each of which a plurality of coins of predetermined denomination may be inserted and stored for easy withdrawal when desired in order to pay a toll. In addition, the envelope-type enclosure includes an outer money clip portion which may be utilized to support paper money in a convenient location for easy access thereto by the driver of the vehicle in which the card retainer is disposed.

The main object of this invention is to provide a card retainer constructed in a manner whereby a toll road card may be inserted therein and viewed with ease.

Another object of this invention is to provide a card retainer in accordance with the immediately preceding object and which includes means whereby the card retainer may be readily supported in an associated vehicle for ready access thereto by the driver of the vehicle.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a card retainer including a plurality of coin receiving pockets each adapted to have a plurality of coins of a given value disposed therein.

Another important object of this invention is to provide a card retainer in accordance with the preceding object and whose coin receiving components for storing coins are constructed in a manner whereby the stored coins may be readily removed from the card retainer.

Another object of this invention is to provide a card retainer in the form of an envelope-type enclosure having a window in one wall thereof with which printed indicia on a toll road card disposed within the enclosure may be registered for viewing of the indicia through the window of the enclosure.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an enclosure in accordance with the immediately preceding object and including a magnifying bar movable across the window and registrable with selected printed indicia on a toll card disposed in the enclosure whereby the selected printed indicia may be magnified for ease in reading at a distance greater than the normal reading distance.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an enclosure in accordance with the preceding object and including means thereon by which paper money may be readily supported in a manner such that the paper money may be readily removed from the card retainer with a minimum of effort.

A final object of this invention to be specifically enumerated herein is to provide a card retainer in accordance with the preceding objects which will conform to conventional forms of manufacture, be of simple construction and easy to use so as to provide a device that will be economically feasible, long lasting and relatively trouble-free in operation.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

4 FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a card retainer constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially upon'the plane indicated by the section line 2-2 ofFlG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged vertical sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passing through the center of one of the coin receptacles or magazines supported from the card retainer;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of one end of the magnifying bar carried by the card retainer and movable across the window formed in the front wall thereof;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary enlarged elevational view of the upper portion of the card retainer having the coin magazines or receivers mounted thereon;

FIG. 7 is an elevational view of a modified form of card retainer adapted to have a card of different dimensions received therein;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 8-8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 9-9 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 10-10 of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary perspective view of one end of one of the magnifying bars utilized on the card retainer illustrated in FIGS. 7-10.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings, the numeral 10 generally designates the card retainer of the instant invention which may be seen to include a flat housing or envelope-type enclosure referred to in general by the reference numeral 12 including a front wall 14, a rear wall 16, opposite sidewalls 18 and 20 and a bottom wall 22. The sidewalls 18' and 20 as well as the bottom wall 22 extend between the front and rear walls I4 and 16 to define an enclosure which is open at one end, the top end of the enclosure 12 as illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings.

The front wall 14 of the enclosure 12 has a window opening 24 formed therein and a lower horizontal partition 26 is secured between the sidewalls l8 and 20'above the lower extremity of the window 24 whereby a horizontally outwardly opening recess 28 is formed between the sidewalls I8 and 20 below the partition 26 and above the bottom wall 22. An elongated abutment or closure member 30 is pivotally secured to the lower marginal edge portion of the front wall 14 by means of a pivot fastener 32 and may be pivoted from the vertical positions thereof illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings to a horizontal position not obstructing the front of the recess 28 whereby folded paper money 28 may be inserted within the recess prior to the abutment or closure member 30 being pivoted to the vertical position illustrated in FIG. I of the drawings so as to retain'any paper money such as paper money 34 within the recess 28 for ready access thereto.

An elongated magnifying bar 36 is provided and is attached to an elongated rod 38 extending between the sidewalls l8 and 20. A pair of wave springs 40 are secured to the opposite ends of the rod 30 and are held captive between the bottom wall 16 and the opposite side marginal edge portions of the front wall 14. i

The upper extremities of the sidewalls I8 and 20 include inwardly convergent ramp or wedge surfaces 18 and 20 and a toll road card such as card 42 having various destination or interchange points represented thereon by indicia 44 is positionable within the enclosure 12 with the opposite side edge portions of the .card 42 lightly clampingly engaged between the wave springs 40 and the inner surface of the rear wall 16. Of course, the indicia 44 on the card 42 is registered with the window 24 so that the indicia 44 may be viewed through the window 24. In addition, the indicia 44 is printed in a manner such that various destinations or interchange points represented thereby may have the magnifying bar 36 ie gistered therewith in the manner illustrated in H6. 1 of the drawings whereby these specific indicia may be read from a distance greater than the normal reading distance.

The upper marginal edge portion of the rear wall 16 projects above the upper marginal edge portions of the front wall 14 and the sidewalls 18 and 20 so as to define an extension 16'. The extension 16' has a large diameter opening 46 formed therein and alsoa slot 48 having one end communicated with the opening 46 and the other end opening outwardly of the uppermost extremity of the extension 16. This construction, of course, enables the enclosure 12 to be readily hung from any shaft having a knob thereon. Further, the outer surface of the rear wall 16 has a resilient nonslip layer 50 of rubber or other suitable material secured thereto whereby the card retainer may be laid upon the upper surface of the vehicle dashboard, if desired. The wedge or ramp surfaces 18' and are provided so as to facilitate insertion of the lower end of the card 42 in the upper end of the enclosure 12.

With attention now invited more specifically to the upper portion of the card retainer, there may be seen a plurality of similar but slightly different size coin receivers referred to in general by the reference numerals 52, 54 and S6. The coin receiver 52 is adapted to have any large coins such as quarters disposed therein, the coin receiver 54 is adapted to have medium size coins such as nickels received therein and the coin receiver 56 is adapted to have smaller coins such as dimes received therein. I

Each of the coin receivers defines an upwardly opening receptacle whose rear wall 58 is secured to the front surface of the front wall 14 and whose front wall has an upwardly opening finger entrance slot 60 formed therein. The upper portions of the front walls of the receivers 52 are upwardly inclined toward the front wall 42 and a leaf spring 62 is provided for each coin receiver 52 and has one end thereof suitably anchored as at 64. The free end of each spring 60 is yieldingly biased toward the front wall of the corresponding coin receiver and therefore any coins disposed within the receivers forward of the leaf springs 62 are urged toward contact with the inner surfaces of the front walls of the coin receivers 52. Of course, inasmuch as any receivers having coins therein will have at least one coin biased against the inner surface of the front wall of that receiver, a person wishing to withdraw a coin from the receiver need merely engage the coin through the finger entrance slot 60 and slide the coin upward toward the open end of the receiver from which the coin may be withdrawn.

With attention now invited more specifically to FIGS. 7-11 of the drawings, there will be seen a modified form of card retainer generally referred to by the reference numeral 110. Various of the components of the card retainer 110 are similar to the corresponding components of the card retainer 10 and are designated by numerals in the 100 series corresponding to the numerals in the 10 series designating the similar components of the card retainer 10.

Among the differences of the card retainer 110 which distinguish it from the retainer 10 is its plan shape, horizontally elongated rather than vertically elongated. In addition, the front wall 114 includes a pair of windows 124 and a pair of magnifying bars 136 are supported from a pair of rods 138 having wave springs 140 supported from their opposite ends. The windows 124 are separated by a center upright portion 115 of the front wall 114 having a stiffening rib 117 secured to its rear face. The adjacent wave springs 140 are disposed on opposite sides of the stiffening rib 117 and accordingly, it may be seen that the wave springs 140 are all disposed between the inner surfaces of the front wall 1 14 and the rear wall 116.

The card 142 to be used in conjunction with the retainer 110 is horizontally elongated and has indicia 144 printed thereon for registry with the windows 124. Also, the coin receivers 152, 154 and 156 are horizontally disposed and supported from the lower marginal edge portion of the front wall 114. Further, the card retainer 110 does not include a recess similar to recess 34 with which one end of the abutment 130 may be registered. instead, the abutment 130 is merely utilized to clamp a folded piece of paper money between the abutment 130 and the outer surface of the front wall 114.

Otherwise, the various components of the card receiver I not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. An envelope-type enclosure including spaced-apart front and rear walls, said enclosure including one marginal portion at least substantially throughout in which the corresponding marginal edges of said front and rear walls are spaced apart defining an opening through which a panellilce card may be edgewise advanced into the interior of said enclosure, one of said walls having a window opening formed therein through which indicia on one side of said card may be viewed, an elongated magnifying bar slidingly supported from said one wall for transverse reciprocation therealong with said bar extending across said opening between opposite marginal edge portions thereof.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said marginal edge of the other wall includes an outwardly projecting extension having an opening formed therethrough adjacent but spaced from the outward extremity of said extension and a slot communicating said outer extremity with the last-mentioned opening.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein the other wall includes an outer coating of nonslip material.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said front wall of said enclosure includes a plurality of coin receptacles each adapted to receive a plurality of coins of a given value.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein said receptacles each define a magazine into and from which coins may be readily placed and removed, respectively.

6. The combination of claim 5 wherein each of said magazines defines a forwardly opening finger entrance slot and spring follower means operative to yieldingly bias coins within said magazine toward said slot from within said magazine, whereby a person desiring to remove one of said coins may readily contact the coin to be removed with one of his fingers through said slot.

7. An envelope-type enclosure including spaced-apart frontand rear walls, said enclosure including one marginal portion at least substantially throughout in which the corresponding marginal edges of said front and rear walls are spaced apart defining an opening through which a panellike card may be edgewise advanced into the interior of said enclosure, one of said walls having a window opening formed therein through which indicia on one side of said card may be viewed, said one wall having a second window opening formed therein, an elongated magnifying bar slidingly supported from said one wall for transverse reciprocation therealong with said bars each extending across a corresponding window opening between opposite marginal edge portions thereof.

8. An envelope-type enclosure including spaced-apart front and rear walls, said enclosure including one marginal portion at least substantially throughout in which the corresponding marginal edges of said front and rear walls are spaced apart defining an opening through which a panellike card may be edgewise advanced into the interior of said enclosure, one of said walls having a window opening formed therein through which indicia on one side of said card may be viewed, said enclosure including a partition therein extending across the portion of said window opening remote from the open marginal edge portion of said enclosure defining a limit of penetration of said card into said enclosure, the portion of said window opening disposed on the side of said partition remote from the open marginal edge portion of said enclosure defining an outwardly opening recess in which folded paper money may be placed. I

9. The combination of claim 8 wherein said enclosure in- 

1. An envelope-type enclosure including spaced-apart front and rear walls, said enclosure including one marginal portion at least substantially throughout in which the corresponding marginal edges of said front and rear walls are spaced apart defining an opening through which a panellike card may be edgewise advanced into the interior of said enclosure, one of said walls having a window opening formed therein through which indicia on one side of said card may be viewed, an elongated magnifying bar slidingly supported from said one wall for transverse reciprocation therealong with said bar extending across said opening between opposite marginal edge portions thereof.
 2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said marginal edge of the other wall includes an outwardly projecting extension having an opening formed therethrough adjacent but spaced from the outward extremity of said extension and a slot communicating said outer extremity with the last-mentioned opening.
 3. The combination of claim 1 wherein the other wall includes an outer coating of nonslip material.
 4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said front wall of said enclosure includes a plurality of coin receptacles each adapted to receive a plurality of coins of a given value.
 5. The combination of claim 4 wherein said receptacles each define a magazine into and from which coins may be readily placed and removed, respectively.
 6. The combination of claim 5 wherein each of said magazines defines a forwardly opening finger entrance slot and spring follower means operative to yieldingly bias coins within said magazinE toward said slot from within said magazine, whereby a person desiring to remove one of said coins may readily contact the coin to be removed with one of his fingers through said slot.
 7. An envelope-type enclosure including spaced-apart front and rear walls, said enclosure including one marginal portion at least substantially throughout in which the corresponding marginal edges of said front and rear walls are spaced apart defining an opening through which a panellike card may be edgewise advanced into the interior of said enclosure, one of said walls having a window opening formed therein through which indicia on one side of said card may be viewed, said one wall having a second window opening formed therein, an elongated magnifying bar slidingly supported from said one wall for transverse reciprocation therealong with said bars each extending across a corresponding window opening between opposite marginal edge portions thereof.
 8. An envelope-type enclosure including spaced-apart front and rear walls, said enclosure including one marginal portion at least substantially throughout in which the corresponding marginal edges of said front and rear walls are spaced apart defining an opening through which a panellike card may be edgewise advanced into the interior of said enclosure, one of said walls having a window opening formed therein through which indicia on one side of said card may be viewed, said enclosure including a partition therein extending across the portion of said window opening remote from the open marginal edge portion of said enclosure defining a limit of penetration of said card into said enclosure, the portion of said window opening disposed on the side of said partition remote from the open marginal edge portion of said enclosure defining an outwardly opening recess in which folded paper money may be placed.
 9. The combination of claim 8 wherein said enclosure includes at least a partial closure for said recess movably supported from said enclosure for shifting between positions in registry with said portion of said window opening and out of registry with said portion of said window opening. 